Belgium: Workshop for the support of aquaculture in Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine

A multi-national workshop

“Aquaculture as a key factor for sustainable food security”, dedicated to supporting Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine in harmonising their aquaculture approach with EU requirements took place 15-16 June in Brussels. The event was organised by DG NEAR and DG MARE through its Technical Assistance and Information Exchange instrument (TAIEX). The agenda was focused on exchanging good practices for sustainable aquaculture development in order to ensure food security, growth, and employment by developing local aquaculture production and reducing import dependency. Experts from governmental institutions, professional organisations, and scientists from Spain, Romania, Poland, and Hungary shared their experiences with challenges and practical ways of solving them. Good practices were also presented by the stakeholders from the three countries targeted by the workshop. The debates were vivid around the main themes of the aquaculture sector: simplification and improvement of licensing, capacity-building programmes for farmers, researchers, and decision-makers at both national and regional levels, increasing the participation of aquaculture farmers’ organizations in sector governance and decision-making processes.

European or regional organisations, such as the Fisheries and Aquaculture Monitoring, Evaluation and Local Support Network (FAMENET) and the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM), highlighted the importance of cooperation among all actors involved in aquaculture development. One of the main conclusions of the event was that aquaculture holds a strategic importance in providing multiple socio-economic benefits and this significance should be recognized and supported by the national administrations. As shown recently, in the multiple crisis environment of the last years, aquaculture had an active role on the local and regional level in providing food security. It is expected that in the near future, the EC will work further with the three candidate states and will develop within the TAIEX instrument tailor-made workshops, expert missions, and study visits for all the topics discussed within the event.

Belgium: EU to offset losses to Belgian fisheries sector caused by Brexit

The UK withdrawal from the European Union, known as Brexit, has had widespread negative impacts on many sectors of the British and European economies, including fisheries. The European Commission has devoted large amounts to help mitigate these effects, through a scheme called the Brexit Adjustment Reserve, which operates under EU State aid rules. Recently, a Belgian plan for its fisheries sector was approved for EUR4.5 million in financial aid to help the sector adjust to the “changed circumstances” resulting from Brexit.

The broad objective of the plan is to “digitalize” the fishing industry, i.e., to move companies to a datadriven business approach using modern data analysis techniques and equipment. Small- and medium-sized active fishing boats with Belgian licenses (flags) will be supported in their modernization investments in amounts up to EUR64,554 per vessel. This support plan has a EUR4.5 million total budget and a deadline of 31 December 2023.

Industry-specific financial assistance runs under EU State aid rules, which govern how such aid can be provided without causing improper anticompetitive effects. The Commission reviewed Belgium’s fishery sector plan under Article 107(3c) of the EU Treaty on the Functioning of the European

Union which allows countries to support certain activities under certain conditions including, in this case, compatibility with the Common Fisheries Policy, positive effects on sustainability, and at least neutral impacts on company and industry competitiveness. With these boxes checked off, the Commission approved Belgium’s plan to use EU aid to support the fisheries sector’s adjustment to Brexit’s “changed circumstances.”